Too bad really, might have turned up some interesting items...
Airfield dig plan grounded Aug 4 2006
By Leon Watson
A TEAM of Royal Air Force engineers have pulled out of a historic dig to uncover Kenley Airfield's wartime past.
The project has been postponed because members of the Ministry of Defence Fire Training School, in Manston, Kent, have been seconded elsewhere.
Councillor Steve O'Connell, of the Friends of Kenley Airfield, said: "It is a shame because we were looking forward to it and it would have been very worthwhile to help find out what is there."
Organisers are now hoping to press on with excavating a patch of the airfield, believed to be an old airplane dump, in the autumn or winter.
The dig was scheduled to start on Monday to test 50-year-old rumours about what lies beneath the former airforce base.
Bomb disposal teams have already carried out a subterranean survey of the Second World War airfield in preparation for the excavation.
It is thought legendary airplanes such as the Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane, the two fighters which won the Battle of Britain, are buried there.
It is also rumoured an AVRO Lincoln bomber - a high-altitude four-engined plane not used in the Second World War - was also left at the site.
Kenley Aerodrome played a key role in the Battle of Britain in 1940. Polish, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand airmen were based there and saw combat in the skies above London.
Disabled flying ace Douglas Bader flew from there and Winston Churchill is said to have taken secret flying lessons at Kenley.
A spokeswoman for the Corporation of London, which owns the site, said: "The team from RAF Manston was due to start next week but that has been postponed because they are working on other priorities.
"But work on the site should start before the winter."
The airfield closed as a military base in 1974 but Surrey Hills Gliding Club, the 615 Volunteer Gliding Squadron and the Air Training Corps continue to use the site.
* A BATTLE of Britain memorial fly-by has been planned for later in the month to pay respect to the vital role RAF Kenley had during the Second World War.
The annual event, which includes the reunion of the 615 Hurricane Squadron, will take place - weather permitting on August 20 at 2.20pm.
Found it here:
http://iccroydon.icnetwork.co.uk/news/h ... _page.html